Executive Director’s Report:
Tailhook Association Update
by CAPT J.R. Davis, USN(Ret)
by CAPT J.R. Davis, USN(Ret)
While the Tailhook Association is growing stronger in many ways, our membership continues in a familiar pattern. Membership in 2004 declined slightly from 11,349 to 11,269. Though our ongoing recruiting drive has added 770 new members, we have stricken 959 members from the rolls. Most of those moved to a new duty station without letting us know their new address. Some moved on to civilian pursuits and forgot to make the call to Tailhook headquarters to update their membership information. A small percentage have received their “last cut,” and are listed in a special column in each issue of The Hook magazine.
Your Educational Foundation continues to support our membership program by increasing the number of high schools and colleges in the “Send The Hook to School” program to 1,059. We have had some success in recruiting new and returning members over the last three months. At our May board of directors meeting in Oceana, we added 27 active-duty members.
We have added a 2005 reunion golf shirt and several “disestablished squadron” logo shirts to our array of merchandise. Please click here to check the ship's store for illustrations of the new shirts and to view the latest additions to our custom stock.
The reunion in Reno is becoming the place to be in September. This year we expect many more attendees than ever before. One of the attractions is the addition of a growing number of reunion groups who plan their gatherings to coincide with the Tailhook Reunion. We are proud to welcome the Skyhawk Association, VF/VFA-102, VA/VFA-25, VA-46, Air Task Group One, 1951–’59, the Flying Midshipmen, VF-51, VF-96, VF-301/-302, VF-114, (1965–’67, though all years are invited), VFA/VA/VF-83, VF-916, Navy Preflight Class 38–53 and NAVCAD Class 20–50. If you are a member of any of these groups, check the Tailhook Web site for contact information. The Thursday evening welcoming reception, open to everyone, will salute our visiting reunion groups.
At this year’s convention your name tag will be your ticket to enter free symposium events, and we will collect tickets at the door for all “ticket required” events. We ask that you remember to bring your tickets to each event.
We expect more than 3,500 attendees at Hook ’05, and our entire exhibit area will feature more than 100 exhibitors.
Many have seen recent upgrades to the Association’s Web site and ship’s store. It’s obviously a popular place to browse, as we’ve received more than 45,000 “hits” to the Web site in the last year. Recent improvements include the ability to update your address or rank, join or renew your membership, register for the reunion or read the most recent monthly Tailhook Association newsletter. You can also register to receive the newsletter by providing your e-mail address.
See you in Reno!
Hook 2005 Reunion Coordinator (Marc Ostertag): (800) 322-4665
Tailhook Educational Foundation (CFC #2965): (800) 269-8267
The Tailhook Ship’s Store: (800) 322-4665
Tailhook Web site: http://www.tailhook.org or http://www.tailhook.net
e-mail: thookassn@aol.com